the Siamese. His army advanced to Mergui and Tenasserim, both which towns were taken; and he was besieging the capital of Siam when he was taken ill. He immediately ordered his army to retreat, in hopes of reaching his capital alive; but he expired on the way, in 1760, in the fiftieth year of his age, after he had reigned eight years. In the previous year he had massacred the English of the establishment of Negrais, whom he suspected of assisting the Peguans. He was succeeded by his oldest son Noungdaugyi, whose reign was disturbed by the rebellion of his brother Tshen-byo-yen or Shembuan, and afterwards by one of his father's generals. He died in little more than three years, leaving one son in his infancy; and on his decease the throne was seized by his brother Tshen-byo-yen. The new king was intent, like his predecessors, on the conquest of the adjacent states, and accordingly made war in 1765 on the Munnipore kingdom, and also on the Siamese, with partial success. In the following year he defeated the Siamese, and, after a long blockade, obtained possession of their capital. But while the Burmans were extending their conquests in this quarter, they were invaded by a Chinese army of 50,000 men from the province of Yunnan. This army was hemmed in by the skill of the Burmans; and, being reduced by the want of provisions, it was afterwards attacked and totally destroyed, with the exception of 2500 men, who were sent in fetters to work in the Burmese capital at their several trades. In the meantime the Siamese revolted, and while the Burman army was marching against them, the Peguan soldiers who had been incorporated in it rose against their companions, and commencing an indiscriminate massacre, pursued the Burman army to the gates of Rangoon, which they besieged, but were unable to capture. In 1774 Tshen-byo-yen was engaged in reducing the marauding tribes. He took the district and fort of Martaban from the revolted Peguans; and in the following year he sailed down the Irawadi with an army of 50,000 men, and, arriving at Rangoon, put to death the aged monarch of Pegu, along with many of his nobles, who had shared with him in the offence of rebellion. He died in 1776, after a reign of twelve years, during which he had extended the Burmese dominions on every side. He was succeeded by his son, a youth of eighteen, called Tsengoomen (Chenguza of Symes), who proved himself a blood thirsty despot, and was put to death by his uncle, Bhodauphra or Mentaragyi, in 1781, who ascended the vacant throne. In 1783 the new king effected the conquest of Arakán. In the same year he removed his residence from Ava,[1] which, with brief interruptions, had been the capital for four centuries, to the new city of Amarapura, “the City of the Immortals.”
The Siamese who had revolted in 1771 were never afterwards subdued by the Burmans; but the latter retained their dominion over the sea-coast as far as Mergui. In the year 1785 they attacked the island of Junkseylon with a fleet of boats and an army, but were ultimately driven back with loss; and a second attempt by the Burman monarch, who in 1786 invaded Siam with an army of 30,000 men, was attended with no better success. In 1793 peace was concluded between these two powers, the Siamese yielding to the Burmans the entire possession of the coast of Tenasserim on the Indian Ocean, and the two important seaports of Mergui and Tavoy.
In 1795 the Burmese were involved in a dispute with the British in India, in consequence of their troops, to the amount of 5000 men, entering the district of Chittagong in pursuit of three robbers who had fled from justice across the frontier. Explanations being made and terms of accommodation offered by General Erskine, the commanding officer, the Burmese commander retired from the British territories, when the fugitives were restored, and all differences for the time amicably arranged.
But it was evident that the gradual extension of the British and Burmese territories would in time bring the two powers into close contact along a more extended line of frontier, and in all probability lead to a war between them. It happened, accordingly, that the Burmese, carrying their arms into Assam and Munnipore, penetrated to the British border near Sylhet, on the N.E. frontier of Bengal, beyond which were the possessions of the chiefs of Cachar, under the protection of the British Government. The Burmese leaders, arrested in their career of conquest, were impatient to measure their strength with their new neighbours. It appears from the evidence of Europeans who resided in Ava, that they were entirely unacquainted with the discipline and resources of the Europeans. They imagined that, like other nations, they would fall before their superior tactics and valour; and their cupidity was inflamed by the prospect of marching to Calcutta and plundering the country. At length their chiefs ventured on the open violation of the British territories. They attacked a party of sepoys within the frontier, and seized and carried off British subjects, while at all points their troops, moving in large bodies, assumed the most menacing positions. In the south encroachments were made upon the British frontier of Chittagong. The island of Shaparee, at the mouth of the Naf river, had been occupied by a small guard of British troops. These were attacked on the 23d September 1823 by the Burmese, and driven from their post with the loss of several lives; and to the repeated demands of the British for redress no answer was returned. Other outrages ensued; and at length, in February 1824, war was declared by the British Government.
Hostilities having commenced, the British rulers in India resolved to carry the war into the enemy's country; an armament, under Commodore Grant and Sir Archibald Campbell, entered the Irawadi River, and anchored off Rangoon on the 10th May 1824. After a feeble resistance this great seaport surrendered, and the troops were landed. The place was entirely deserted by its inhabitants, the provisions were carried off or destroyed, and the invading force took possession of a complete solitude. On the 28th May, Sir A. Campbell ordered an attack on some of the nearest posts, which were all carried after a feeble defence. Another attack was made on the 10th June on the stockades at the village of Kemmendine. Some of these were battered by artillery; and the shot and shells struck such terror into the Burmese that they fled in the utmost precipitation. It soon, however, became apparent that the expedition had been undertaken with very imperfect knowledge of the country, and without adequate provision. The devastation of the country, which was part of the defensive system of the Burmese, was carried out with unrelenting rigour, and the invaders were soon reduced to great difficulties. The health of the men declined, and their ranks were fearfully thinned. The monarch of Ava sent large reinforcements to his dispirited and beaten army; and early in July an attack was commenced on the British line, but proved unsuccessful. On the 8th the British assaulted. The enemy were beaten at all points; and their strongest stockaded works, battered to pieces by a powerful artillery, were in general
- ↑ The frequent change of capital is quite remarkable in Burmese history. In the earlier periods, it is probable that the chronicles have made it seem more frequent than it is, by running the history of minor contemporaneous kingdoms into that of one great monarchy. But in more recent times the capital has been shifted from Prome to Pagán, from Pagán to Panya, from Panya to Ava, and from Ava to Amarapura; and since the present monarch was visited by the English embassy of 1855, he has caused Amarapura to be abandoned, and has built a new city at Mandalay, which is at present the chief city in the empire.
